the lowest to the highest, may be considered in the following series. 1st, A whisper-audible only by the nearest person. 2d, The low speaking tone or murmur-suited to close conversation. 3d, The ordinary pitch or middle-suited to general conversation. 4th, The elevated pitch-used in earnest argu ment. 5th, The extreme-used in violent passion. To the variety so grateful to the ear, not only change of tone is requisite, but also change of delivery. According to the subject, the rapidity of the utterance varies, as the time in the different movements in music. Narration proceeds equally, the pathetic slowly, instruction authoritatively, determination with vigour, and passion with rapidity. Directions. 1st, As the vital principle of the voice, consists in those tones which express the emotions of the mind; and as the language of ideas however correctly delivered, without the addition of this language of the passions will prove cold and uninteresting, variety in the delivery is a most important point. 2d, As the difficulty of pitching the voice is very considerable, especially if the place be large and the speaker not accustomed to it, he should begin somewhat below rather than above the ordinary pitch, for it is much easier to ascend than lower the pitch. 3d, Every speaker ought to deliver the greatest part of his discourse in the middle pitch of his voice. For this is the pitch which admits of ascending or descending with the greatest ease; and the organs having more practice in this than any other, they are stronger, and can continue longer without being fatigued. 4th, The speaker must take great care not to run out of breath, which always occasions pain to the audience; except in the expression of some particular passions; and even then he must only seem to be deficient. The lungs should therefore always be inflated to a certain degree, that he may have a plentiful supply always at command. 5th, In rooms or places where the echo from its quick return disturbs the speaker, he must lessen the quantity of his voice till the echo ceases to be perceptible. When he is disturbed by the slowly returning echo, let him take care to be much slower and more distinct in his utterance than usual, and to make his pauses longer. He should attend to the returning sound, and not begin after a pause till the sound has ceased. 6th, In very large buildings, where the speaker has little more advantage than if he were in the open air, he must regulate his voice accordingly, and make it audible as far he can, without straining: in such situations, loudness is preferable to highness of voice. 7th, A speaker, to be well heard by his audience, must fill the place in which he speaks; he will discover that he has accomplished this by the return of his voice to his own ear.-In order to be well heard, distinctness of articulation is the first requisite. 8th, Every speaker should know the power and extent of his voice: of this he is enabled accurately to judge, by the degree of exertion necessary for him to fill a place of any particular size: and also by the degrees of attention in the most distant parts of his audience. Examples of Modulation. Low Key. Son, said the hermit, let the errors and follies, the danger and escape of this day sink deep into thy heart. Remember, my son, that human life is. the journey of a day; we rise in the morning of youth, full of vigour, and full of expectation; we set forward with spirit and hope, with gaiety and with diligence, and travel on a while in the straight road of piety towards the mansions of rest. In a short time we remit our fervor, and endeavour to find some mitigation of our duty, and some more easy means of obtaining the same end. We then relax our vigour, and resolve no longer to be terrified with crimes at a distance, but rely upon our own constancy, and venture to approach what we resolved never to touch. We then enter the bowers of ease, and repose in the shades of security. There the heart softens and vigilance subsides; we are then willing to enquire whether another advance cannot be made, and whether we may not at least, turn our eyes upon the gardens of pleasure: we approach them with scruple and hesitation; we enter them, but enter timorous and trembling, and always hope to pass through them without losing the road to virtue, which for a while we keep in our sight, and to which we propose to return. But temptation succeeds temptation, and one compliance prepares us for another; we in time lose the happiness of innocence, and solace our disquiet with sensual gratifications. By degrees, we let fall the remembrance of our original intention, and quit the only adequate object of rational desire. We entangle ourselves in business, immerge ourselves in luxury, and rove through the labyrinths of inconstancy, till the darkness of old age begins to invade us, and disease and anxiety obstruct our way. We then look back upon our lives with horror, with sorrow, with repentance; and wish, but too often vainly wish, that we had not forsaken the ways of virtue. Happy are they, my son, who shall learn from thy example not to despair; but shall remember, that, though the day is past, and their strength is wasted, there yet remains one effort to be made that reformation is never hopeless, nor sincere endeavours ever unassisted; that the wanderer may at length return after all his errors; and that he who implores strength and courage from above, shall find danger and difficulty give way before him. Go now, my son, to thy repose; commit thyself to the care of Omnipotence; and when the morning calls again to toil, begin anew thy journey and thy life. Low and Loud. The inflexions slightly marked, approaching the Monotone. O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers! whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty; the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou thyself movest above; who can be a companion of thy course? The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in the heavens; but thou art forever the same, rejoicing in the brightness of thy course.When the world is dark with tempests, when thunders roll, and lightnings fly, thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and laughest at the storm. But to Ossian thou lookest in vain; for he beholds thy beams no more; whether thy yellow hair flows on the eastern cloud, or thou tremblest at the gates of the west. But thou art perhaps, like me, for a season: thy years will have an end. Thou wilt sleep in thy E clouds careless of the voice of the morning. Exult then, O Sun! in the strength of thy youth. Age is dark and unlovely; it is like the glimmering light of the moon, when it shines through broken clouds, and the mist is on the hills; when the blast of the north is on the plain, and the traveller shrinks in the midst of his journey. Low and Soft. How the sweet moonlight sleeps upon this bank ! .O my dread lord I should be guiltier than my guiltiness, Hath looked upon my passes; then, good prince, Middle Key. There is nothing magnanimous in bearing misfortunes with fortitude, when the whole world is looking on men in such circumstances will act bravely, even from motives of vanity: but he who in the vale of obscurity, can brave adversity; who without friends to encourage, acquaintance to pity, or even without hope to alleviate his misfortunes, can behave with tranquility and indifference, is truly great whether peasant or courtier, he deserves admiration, and should be held up for our imitation and respect. Middle and Soft. Respect and admiration still possess me, |